Abuga Pele And Rudolf Amega-Etego
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has once again postponed the primary in Chiana-Paga constituency from 9 to 16 July 2016.
After about eight months of delay and agitation by the NDC youth of the constituency, the leadership of the party on June 20, 2016 announced Saturday July 9 as the date for the much-touted Chiana-Paga NDC primary.
Though many NDC members, including some functionaries wanted the election to be held earlier than July 9, they accepted the date in good fate to ensure sanity.
But the recent postponement of the primary has infuriated many functionaries of the party.
The Chiana-Paga parliamentary seat has been won by the both the NPP and NDC in the past and none can consider it a safe seat in the region.
Many people in the region have argued that the NDC, which is being complacent, believes that even if it presents a candidate at the eleventh hour, the people of Chiana-Paga will vote for him.
Since 2015, the NPP’s Clement Dandori has been campaigning and selling his ideas and policies to the constituents but members of the ruling NDC interested in contesting in the party’s primaries are only interacting with NDC delegates.
According to a leading member of the party in the constituency, who pleaded anonymity, the regional office failed to inform the Electoral Commission about the new date for the primary and so the Commission has also not made plans for it.
“They are hot because they don’t want President Mahama to come and see them naked. They are not doing what is expected of them and now that the President is coming to the region, they want to spend all their time preparing for his visit. We are also hearing that they want the President to talk to one of the candidates to step down, and that is why the election is delayed, so that President Mahama can do their job for them before the election takes place. We don’t know who they want to step down, but we are watching them,” he angrily said.
“The youth are really angry and are getting the feeling that the national office and the regional office are trying to turn the Chiana-Paga constituency into the Bongo constituency.
“My brother, we in Chiana-Paga, can change our mind anytime; we vote for people and parties we deem fit and ready to serve our interests at a particular time. People here did not just vote for the NDC for voting sake. We realized Leo Kaba and NPP were not serving our interest and so we brought in the NDC again and now they are tossing us,” an angry youth said.
Presently, three persons- the Member of Parliament (MP), Abuga Pele, one-time independent candidate in the constituency, Rudolph Amega-Etego and Jonathan Nyaaba- are vigorously campaigning for the slot.
From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Paga.